1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system for a vehicle and, more particularly, to an image processing system for generating an image which displays a blind spot for a driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a driver drives and operates a vehicle, there exists a blind spot which is obstructed by a car body and the like and cannot be seen in the sight which can be recognized from the viewpoint of the driver sitting in a driver's seat. The vehicle is structured in a manner that such a blind spot can be recognized with an inside mirror, an outside mirror, and the like to some extent. Further, a vehicle has been recently proposed which has the structure in which a camera for imaging the outside of the vehicle is mounted and an image obtained by the camera is displayed on an interior monitor. For example, a camera for imaging the rear of the vehicle is mounted and a part being the blind spot in the rear is displayed on the interior monitor when the vehicle rolls backward, which helps the driver to check the rear in parking the vehicle in a garage or the like.
Furthermore, a device for displaying an image in a direction according to the sight of the driver is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 10-264723.
On the other hand, in a previous case when the driver operates the vehicle in which the periphery of the vehicle cannot be recognized with the camera image and the like, the driver was to understand intuitively the extent of relative positions of and distance between an outer obstacle and the vehicle from the outer obstacle coming into the sight and the interior scenery simultaneously within the sight (such as a window frame and a contour line of a trunk room).
However, in the device which displays the camera image as in the conventional art, an image imaged by the camera is displayed on the monitor as it is, and therefore the image displayed on the monitor is different from an image seen by eyes of the driver. The reasons are that a viewpoint position of the camera is different from a viewpoint position of the driver when he/she operates the vehicle, that the size of the obstacle which can be understood by the eyes and the size of the obstacle displayed on the monitor are different, and so on. Further, another reason is that only the outside scenery is imaged in the image while, in the previous case, the driver has simultaneously recognized the scenery outside the vehicle and a part of the vehicle (such as the window frame and a hood) which come into the sight and understood their relative positions intuitively.
In other words, there is a problem that the conventional monitor image is difficult for the driver, who has previously had a perception of distance by intuition, to understand the relationship in position between an outline of the vehicle and peripheral objects based on the intuition which he/she has previously mastered.